Angela Booth's Writing Blog

The next issue of Your EveryDay Write

The next issue of Your EveryDay Write, our free writing-prompt and tip ezine, will be out on the 30th.

Subscription is free to all. However, the extensive archives of YEW are only available to Pro Write members.

Here's an excerpt from the new issue:

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Your writing is YOU. Just as silkworms spin silk from mulberry leaves, you spin writing from your life's experiences. The more you know and understand yourself, the more you will know and understand the world, and the more you'll have to write about.

I'm a believer in the "black box" theory of personality. That is, you know someone (and yourself), by their actions -- by what they do -- NOT by what they say, or by what they think.

This theory comes in handy when you're writing fiction. :-) The curse of the neophyte novelist is the thinking and talking head. If you decide that your characters have to DO stuff, you'll find that your fiction is suddenly much more interesting.
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Point of View (POV) in your novel

In the Lesson Two of our Pro Write Workshop "Build Your Novel" we discuss character and POV. The lesson will be posted in a couple of days.

If your characters don't come alive in your novel, POV is the challenge.

Here's a brief excerpt from the lesson:

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Point of View is perspective. It's the first element you select in writing your novel. If it's your first novel, you'll usually do this unconsciously. You may choose First Person POV, that is the main character and you, the author, tell the story as "I".

…. [POV in a nutshell] …

If you're uncertain about POV, ask yourself: where's the camera?

Each scene of your novel is usually written in one POV. In short novels, of under 60,000 words, the stories are told from the viewpoint of no more than two people. There's not the space to drag in multiple points of view: if you do, you will diffuse the effect of your story, and you'll confuse the reader, as well as yourself.

The longer your novel, the more space you have to enter different Points of View. In a novel of 100, 000 words, you have space for around four Points of View: the hero and heroine, the villain (antagonist) and one other.

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Not a member of Pro Write? If you're a keen writer, and would like to write professionally, you'll find all the help and inspiration you need on Pro Write. Join us. :-)

New fiction workshop on Pro Write

The new Pro Write workshop starts today. This is our second novel-writing workshop.

It builds on the information in Workshop #2 "Write Genre Novels (Commercial Fiction) For Fun And Profit".

An early holiday surprise from Birgitt and Angela

My sister, Birgitt Thursby, and I run the Digital-e and Pro Write Web sites. Digital-e is just a couple of years old, Pro Write is less than a year. We've had lots of enthusiastic kudos from people who've enjoyed our efforts, and found them useful. Thank you for your feedback and kind words, and for your purchases and subscriptions too.

As a special thank you, and as our holiday gift to you, we've created our holiday season ebook special on Digital-e.

Enjoy. :-)

Our next Pro Write Workshop starts FRIDAY

Our tenth Pro Write Workshop "Write and Sell an eBook" starts Friday.

In this workshop, you'll write your first ebook. In addition you'll write all the marketing material you'll need to sell your book.

If you're a new writer, you may feel that writing an ebook is beyond you. I assure you that if you'll work through the three lessons, you'll amaze yourself. You can, and you will, write your ebook and set about selling it. This workshop presents you with a PLAN. Follow the plan, and you can't fail. :-)

If you follow all the techniques in this workshop, I guarantee that you'll be amazed at yourself, at how successful you become, with minimal effort.

This workshop is in three lessons:

Getting started --- choose a Topic

Lesson Two: Structure your ebook

Lesson Three: Your COMPLETE two-week ebook writing and selling plan

Not a member of Pro Write? If your goal is to be a productive, selling writer, Pro Write is your key to success. Each month we present a fantastic NEW workshop to teach you exciting new writing skills. Enjoy. :-)